Furnace for melting metals.



No. 733,931. PATEN-TED JULY 21, 1.903.

J. J. ANDERSON.

FURNACE FOR MELTING METALS.

APPLIOATIQK FILED AUG. 19, 1901.

I0 MODEL. 7 4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I I Ill l No. 733,931. PATENTED JULY 21, 1903.

J. J. ANDERSON.

FURNACE FOR-MBLTING METALS. APPLICATION FILED me. 19, 1901'. no 10pm. 4 sums-sum 2.

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FURNACE FOR MELTING METALS.

IPPLIOATION FILED AUG. 19 1901.

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No. 733,931 PATENTED'JULY 21, 1903.

' m. ANDERSON.

FURNACE FOR MBLTING METALS. APPLICATION FILED we. 19, 1901.

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UNITED STATES, PATENT Patented July 21, 1903.

OFFICE.

JAMES J. ANDERSON, OF SOUTH HAVEN, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO OIL BURNER FURNACE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

'FU RNAC-E-FO R MELTING METALS;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,931, dated July 21, 1903.

Application filed August 19.1901. Serial No. 72,467. (Nomodelll To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES J. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing atSouth Haven, in the county of Van Enron and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnaces for Melting Metal, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in furnaces for melting metal, and moreparticularly to that class of such devices inwhich the furnace is pivotally mounted upon trunnions and is designed to be tilted to discharge the metal previously melted therein.

The object of the invention is to provide furnaces of the character referred to with an adjusting shelf or support upon which molds or ladles may be placed in position to receive the molten metal discharged'from the furnace and which will automatically maintain itself in a horizontal plane without regard to the angle to which the furnace is tipped, to pro vide an improved furnace of this character having burners so constructed and arranged as to enable the melting of the metal to be accomplished with more economy and facility and be carried on, if desired, as a continuous process,durin g which the metal may be maintained at any required temperature for as long a period of time as may be necessary.

To these ends the invention consists in the matters herein set forth, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and will be fully understood from the following description of the furnace illustrated in the ac companying drawings, in which Figurelis a side elevationofanysuitable tilting furnace provided with a self-adj usting 1adle-supportingshelf in accordancewith my improvements. Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a special form of tilting furnace constructed and arrangedwith burners for oil or gaseous fuel in accordance with my improvements. Fig.4 is a side elevation thereof. Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Figs. 3 and 4 of a slightly-modified construction. Figs. 7 and 8 are side and front views, respectively, showing the furnace in sectional elevation.

Referring to the self-adj ustin g supportingshelf feature of my invention, A designates a tilting furnace of anysuitable or desired construction supported on trunnions a iu an appropriate .framework B and provided with any suitable means by which it may be tilted, consisting in this instance of a worm-gear C, secured to oneof the trunnions and intermeshing with a worm D, carried on the framework and arranged to be turned by a handle d, so that by manipulating said handle the furnace can be tilted'to any angle desired. Depending pivotally from brackets a on the front of the furnace is a shelf E, arranged to matter to what angle the furnace is tilted.

This is automatically accomplished in my present improvements by connections between the shelf and the frame B, by which the shelf is caused to swing relatively to the furnace as the latter tips in such manner as to be maintained substantially horizontal. To form such connections, the side members E of the shelf and which suspend it from the brackets a are herein shown as extended upwardly and provided with laterally-projecting studs 6, which enter curved slots b in forwardly and upwardly proj ectiu g bracket-arms B of the frame B. These slots are so shaped that as the ladle is tilted through the various angles which-it is adapted to assume the studs e will be guided by said slots so as to always occupy a position directly abovethe shelt supporting pivots in the brackets a, and the shelf itself will thereby always be held horizontal throughout the entire range of movement of the furnace. It will, however, be

form of parallel motion applicable to this purpose and by which the same result is accomplished; also, that self-adjusting shelves of this character may be applied to large ladles and similar tilting vessels of this class as well as to tilting furnaces, if so desired.

Referring now to the particular construction of furnaces shown in Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, the same consists of a closed chamber which may conveniently. be made substantially rectangular and supported and tilted after the manner more particularly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The entire interior of the chamber, including its top, is lined with a thick layer of refractory material, and a normallyclosed door F for filling the furnace will be provided at a suitable point, herein shown as located at the front of the furnace just above the spout (1 The heating of the furnace to melt the metal placed therein is accomplished by burners G, located at the corners of the furnace, conveniently at the rear thereof and converging toward each other, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5. These burners, which may be of any suitable type, are supplied with air through appropriate connections, herein shown as consisting of flexible hose H, which lead to the burners from a conveniently-located air-supply pipe h. In a similar manner the burners may be supplied with oil or gas through flexible hose I, leading from a conveniently-located oil or gas supply pipe 2', as shown in Figs. 3 and at, or the fuel connection may be made through the trunnions, as shown in Figs. 5

and 6, in which the fuel-pipe t' is led into ends of the trunnions through stuffing-boxes Z, while rigid connecting-pipes Z lead from the trunnions to the burners.

The burners are designed to discharge the air and oil spray or gaseous vapor constituting the fuel into the upper part of the furnace above the body of metal therein, the surface of which is never designed to rise above the level occupied by the spout when the furnace occupies its normal untilted position, and they are herein shown as located about midway between this level of the spout and the top of the furnace; but although the combustion thus takes place above the metal the fact that the furnace is almost completely closed serves to melt and maintain it in its desired molten condition untilwanted. The temperature to which the metal is brought and maintained can be regulated as desired by varying the actionof the burners by means of valves g and g, which control the air and gas or oil inlets of the burners. A furnace thus constructed is particularly designed and intended for the use of crude oil as fuel and is well adapted for foundry-work, in which it renders practicable a continuous melting and pouring operation, as distinguished from the ordinary method, in which the cupola is charged and emptied by successive heats. Thus it is contemplated that special pouring-olf times will be done away with and that instead the metal from the furnace will be drained off as and when needed, the temperature of the metal being maintained continuously at the proper pouring-point and the charging of the furnace being accomplished by the throwing in of small masses of pig at such intervals as may be necessary to maintain the supply, but not often enough to seriously chill the body of molten metal remaining therein. In this connection my improved mold-supporting shelf is particularly advantageous, since it enables the metal to be poured into the molds directly from the furnace and without the use of the ladies, into which it is ordinarily first poured, the peculiar mounting of the shelf serving to antomatically maintain the necessarily small mouth of the mold in practically constant relation to the end of the spout no matter to what angle the furnace must be tipped to fill the molds. Without this shelf the pouring of the metal from a tilting furnace directly into the molds would be impracticable.

It will be understood that various changes may be made in the structural details of the improved furnace set forth Without departing from the broad spirit of the invention claimed; also, that such furnaces may be advantageously employed for the melting of metals generally, as Well as for the melting of iron, underany circumstances to whichthey may be adapted.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a tilting furnace, of a ladle-supporting shelf mounted on and movable therewith, and means for constantly maintaining said shelf in its normal position with reference to the horizontal regardless of the angle to which the furnace is tipped, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a supportingframe, of a tilting furnace pivotally mounted in said frame, a shelf pivotally suspended from said furnace, and connections between said shelf and frame for constantly maintaining the normal position of the shelf with reference to the horizontal regardless of the angle to which the furnace is tipped, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a supportingframe, of a tilting furnace pivotally mounted in said frame, a shelf pivotally suspended from said furnace, a slotted bracket on the frame, and an arm secured to the shelf and movably entering the slot on the bracket to constantly maintain the normal position of the shelf with reference to the horizontal regardless of the angle to which the furnace is tipped, substantially as described.

t. A metal-melting furnace comprising a closed chamber imperforate atits top and bottom and provided with laterally-projecting trunnions connected directly to the sides of the furnace about midway between its top and bottom and closed at their inner or furnaceconnected ends, a supporting-frame provided with journals which receive the trunnions and projecting laterally into the furnace, above the body of metal therein but below the top of the chamber, air and oil pipes leading to these burners, and connections for supplying said pipes in all positions of the furnace, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature, in presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 14th day of August, A. D. 1901.

JAMES J. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. CARTER, K. A. COSTELLO. 

